8. NEOITAMUS 681 



the eyes above (but not mucli below) the ocelli ; sides below the ocelli 

 with fairly numerous moderate black bristly hairs ; ocellar knob with several 

 longer black bristly hairs of which the ui)per four turn outwards but the rest 

 (as well as the hairs on the sides of the frons) slope forwards ; collar grey, 

 with a row of about eight to ten bristles which may be either blackish orange 

 or black. Proboscis black with the usual long pale hairs beneath on the 

 basal part, but with very slight pubescence at the tij) ; palpi short, thin, and 

 black, with long blackish (or sometimes pale near the base) hairs directed 

 forwards and with one extra long curved one at the tip. Antenna} greyish 

 black ; basal joint thin and cylindrical, twice as long as the short almost 

 globular second joint, and both these joints bear black bristly hairs (longest 

 on the underside); third joint long, thin, and tapering so that it is not easy 

 to detect where the joint ends and the style begins, about as long as the two 

 basal joints together ; style jointed with the basal joint short, about equal in 

 thickness with the tip of the third joint and continuing so for about the 

 length of the third joint but then ending in a tiny point. 



Thorax ashy grey ; middle stripe deep black but conspicuously split by 

 an ashy grey middle line, and broadened anteriorly but contracted posteriorly 

 until it ends in two (still well separated) blunt points about mid-way 

 between the suture and the hindmargin, though in some lights these 

 two points appear to coalesce and continue as a narrow indistinct 

 greyish black stripe to the hindmargin ; side-stripes sharply defined, and 

 each forming a large elongate ovate stripe of which the greater part is before 

 the suture, and when seen from in front the grey suture separates that part 

 from the smaller part below the suture : the front end of the side-stripes 

 turn rather outwards to a point near where the humeral stripes ought to 

 occur; after the ends of the side-stripes narrow awl-shaped rather small 

 dark spots extend towards but do not reach the hindmargin ; humeral 

 stripes hardly extended. Pubescence black, fairly long and slightly bent 

 backwards, comparatively sparse or certainly nowhere abundant, quite absent 

 on all the dark stripes and only occurring as a single line on each side of the 

 narrow grey middle line ; the pubescence is longer and less bent backwards 

 towards the hind part of the thorax when mixed with the long bristles, and 

 in fact it becomes almost as long as the hindmost bristles ; humei'i with only 

 rather long thin pale yellow hairs, but no further trace of pale hairs occurs 

 along the sides except perhaps the short pubescence on the extreme outer side 

 of the postalar calli. Bristles ; four or five long strong prsesutural and about 

 two weaker more anterior ones ; about five long and strong supra-alar ; about 

 four long and strong postalar ; about twelve dorso-central (there being no 

 apparent interruption at the suture) neither extending back near to the hind- 

 margin nor forwards to the front third of the thorax, but these bristles become 

 shorter and weaker towards the hindmarginal end of the rows and merge 

 before the hindmargin into the general bristly pubescence. Pleurae ashy 

 grey, but the lower front part of the sternopleurie blackish ; pro thorax and 

 the space below it with not dense greyish white pubescence ; mesopleura? 

 with a few normally black hairs near the upper and hindmargins and about the 

 lower hind part, but many of these hairs may be pale ; sternopleuraj with 

 more numerous though inconspicuous pale thin hairs on all the upper part ; 

 pteropleurse with sonie stronger almost bristly dark orange hairs on the back 

 part and with some longish thin pale hairs ; metapleurse with a dense fan of 

 about twelve long dull yellow bristly hairs, near which are some almost equally 

 long thin yellow hairs ; hypopleur;i3 with a fan of about four still stronger 

 dull yellow bristly hairs and several equally long yellow thin hairs. Scutellum 

 ashy grey, with numerous erect thin hardly short yellow hairs on the disc, 

 amongst which a rather stronger black hair or two may sometimes occur, and 

 with about four strong upturned black marginal bristles ; metanotum greyish 

 black, but lighter grey at the sides. 



Abdomen narrow, black with (when seen from behind) a rather obscure 

 greyish hindmarginal hem to each of the first five segments and with this greyish 

 coloring widening out at the hind corners and extending along the sides ; 

 abdomen very gradually tapering and the seventh segment still slightly 

 narrower, while the sixth and seventh segments are shining steel blue. 

 Pubescence comparatively long and conspicuous, chiefly fawn yellow or 



